Do you always purge?

[fiddlegrin]

..............The fuel entering the lighter will be chilled by coming into contact with the cold fuel tank so the lighter will remain at lower pressure even as it is being filled. ............

Right on_! Great post.

[ky70]

I sometimes purge but usally do not. I have 40+ butane lighters (some as old as 2005) and all are up and running properly (knock on wood).

I've become a bootleg lighter repair guy (on my own lighters) and have seen most reasons why butane lighters stop working. The #1 issue for a butane lighter not working (IMO) is butane fuel quality. I use Vector fuel and my lighters work better on Vector than any other fuel I've tried (compared directly to Xikar fuel, several lighters performed noticeably better on Vector...higher flames on Vector v. Xikar).

Other issues I've noticed (that can be fixed) are
1) the adjustment ring restrictor is sometimes set too low so even when turned to the highest setting, the flame is still too low or won't light and
2) the sparking flame rod that sits in the chamber over the butane can be slightly out of place which leads to misfires or a lighter that won't light.

I've done the freezer thing too. I've definitely noticed a difference and I believe the explanation behind it but I don't do it all the time as I'm afraid the short freeze may damage components of some of my lighters.